UCL Sustainability Team wins Professional Services Award for Innovation

4 February 2016

The Sustainability Team has received an award from UCL's President and Provost Professor Michael Arthur for its innovative approach to academic collaboration and communicating the University's carbon reduction challenge.

Building
on research from Deputy Director of the UCL Transport Institute Dr Tom Cohen, the Sustainability Team led
the development of a new interactive online tool to bring the University’s carbon reduction challenge to life.

The 'Degrees of Change' tool, which will be
featured in a publication on participatory budgeting, enabled participants to 'spend' a £10m energy
efficiency budget on the interventions that mattered to them, showing both the cost and carbon impact these actions would have. Academics leading the 'Energy Systems' module of UCL’s BASc course also used the tool as part of their teaching, helping students to engage with the complexities of making environmental improvements in an interactive way.

16 nominations were made in the 'Innovation' category of the Professional Services Awards. Professor Andrea Sella, who nominated the Sustainability Team said:

"This nomination recognises the unusual nature of the Sustainability team. In spite of consisting
of a mere six individuals, their creativity in developing projects of this
kind, their deliberate work to cut across hierarchical boundaries, their
persistence in embedding new ideas into both construction, research, and
teaching projects, has led, in my view, to a much more profound impact on the
institution. In addition to galvanizing students, many of us Green Champions
have seen significant changes in attitude among both academic and Professional Services staff across the College. By working alongside all parts of the institution the Sustainability team have made possible significant improvements
in work practice, efficiency, and cost savings that are helping to drive
progressive changes in entrenched habits that are making UCL a better place to
work"